The empire of B.C.’s Aquilini family

The multi-billion-dollar family trust structure is under the microscope in court starting Monday

Francesco Aquilini, left and his father Luigi Aquilini, right outside one of the family’s homes in Pitt Meadows, B.C. on Sept. 4, 2013. The family’s complex business dealing are facing unprecedented scrutiny in the divorce proceeding between Francesco and wife Tali’ah.

Photograph by: Ric Ernst
, VANCOUVER SUN

The divorce trial of Francesco and Tali’ah Aquilini starts Monday in B.C. Supreme Court. Once a power couple on Vancouver’s high-wealth social circle, the two have been unable to come to an agreement over how to parent their four children and also divide assets, which include the Vancouver Canucks hockey team and a vast array of companies and investments.

The assets are tied up in a complex series of family trusts and corporations that involve Francesco Aquilini’s parents, Luigi and Elisa, his two brothers, Roberto and Paolo, and as many as 14 children of the three brothers. In total, they employ more than 4,600 people.

At the heart of the pending court case is whether Francesco Aquilini’s role in his father’s elaborate trusts and corporate holdings translates into marital assets that would be subject to division in the divorce.

The case has also resulted in a rare court order sealing the divorce file to prevent disclosure of corporate finances, as well as to protect the couple’s children from unproven personal allegations.

The original construction and real estate business was started by Luigi Aquilini more than 50 years ago and has grown into a conglomerate that recent media reports valued at more than $5 billion.

Because the Aquilini empire is entirely a private organization, it is almost impossible to determine all of its holdings. It appears to be operated through a head corporation, Aquilini Investment Group Ltd. The family will not talk about the valuation of the company or the structure of the trusts, including the beneficiaries and the trustees. However, in an interview on Wednesday, Luigi Aquilini made it clear that while he and his sons and wife plan and discuss what they invest in, he has a veto even if the others want to proceed when he does not.

Aquilini Investment Group itself defines its business under four general headings: development and construction; real estate and investments, hospitality and recreation, and agriculture and environment. Using published stories, company filings, property searches, proposals to governments and other public information, we’ve put together a list of the most important parts of the empire.

It covers everything from a vast blueberry and cranberry empire in Canada and the U.S. that collectively is the largest in North America, to the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, to a dizzying array of developments and rental properties across Canada, to hospitality services and even a hotel empire.

Although it is difficult to determine the complete structure of the Aquilinis’ various holdings — which are nested within a complex web of inter-connected companies and trusts — one single division, now disbanded, will give readers an insight into the complexity of the Aquilini empire.

In order to operate a pay-per-view system for its National Hockey League games when it bought the Vancouver Canucks, the Aquilini trust had to divulge the structure of its holdings in the team to the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission. It recently disbanded the pay-per-view arrangement — which it shared with the owners of the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames — after giving Rogers/SportsNet a 10-year deal to broadcast Canucks games. It is the only known public record of an Aquilini trust structure.

Francesco Aquilini, left and his father Luigi Aquilini, right outside one of the family’s homes in Pitt Meadows, B.C. on Sept. 4, 2013. The family’s complex business dealing are facing unprecedented scrutiny in the divorce proceeding between Francesco and wife Tali’ah.

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